The Sickening Store
by The Critic
Summary: The Baudelaires are sent to yet another relative...and this one might be the worst one of all! Please R/R!


Disclaimer: The Series of Unfortunate Events, the books concerning the Baudelaire Orphans, was not created nor is owned by me (Mr. Lemony Snicket has that honor) so please don't sue me for writing this story!!  
  
The Sickening Store: Chapter One  
  
Often, when you are reading a terribly exciting story and can't bear to turn the pages one after the other like a normal person would do, it is most likely that you would eagerly flip to the last page right away and see what happens at the end. I myself have done this several times when reading a terribly exciting story but then again, I'm more impatient than most people.  
  
I think it can be agreed that the ending is a very important element to a story. It can often determine whether or not the reader is satisfied with what the author has written. Even if the author has spent approximately five years, two months, three hours, and fifty-five seconds writing their beloved book and it has a bad ending, the reader will probably throw down the beloved book in disgust and never pick it up again. For instance, if you were reading a frightfully nerve-wracking story about a horrendous wolf who roams the dark woods to gobble up innocent little children and when you finally get to the end with your eyes wide and your fingers tense as you turn the page and it said, "It turned out that the wolf was actually a clown with a cold in disguise and he kidnapped all those poor children so they could bring him tissues in his tent" you might be very disappointed because that wasn't the ending you expected at all. So even though the author might have worked really hard creating the story of the clown disguising as a wolf, in the end their story would not be a success because of the horrible ending. I myself truly despise the ending of the well-known tale of "The Frog Prince." Who in their right mind would want to kiss the slimy, wet lips of a warty frog, prince or no prince? I would have much preferred it if the frog found another frog to kiss because the thought of a frog kissing another frog is not as appalling as the image of the princess' pretty lips touching some rubbery, green ones. Therefore, I must say that after reading the repulsive ending of "The Frog Prince," I could not help but throw it down in disgust and to this day, I have never picked it up again.  
  
In this story, the story of the Baudelaire orphans and their trip to the Sickening Store, the ending is neither good nor bad. It certainly does not have a happy ending, if that's what you're wondering about, since I'm sure you have heard previous tales involving Violet, Klaus, and Sunny Baudelaire's notorious encounters with misery. In case you haven't, it is my duty to warn you that if you enjoy stories with happy endings, or even reasonable endings, you should immediately throw this book down in disgust and never pick it up again, despite the fact that you haven't seen the ending yet. The ending to this story is neither happy nor reasonable. The ending, like all other tales about these three unfortunate orphans, is downright miserable. It is definitely not happy because it seems that the archenemy of the Baudelaires, which in this case means "a deeply despised enemy that keeps showing up in various places," is bad luck. And this ending is definitely not reasonable because normally, you would expect three kids as thoughtful and intelligent as the Baudelaires to eventually find a happy and safe home with good relatives to protect them from Count Olaf after their parents unfortunately perished in a fire. However, that is not the case. Although the Baudelaires have had many homes with several relatives in the past, none of the homes have been especially happy or safe nor have their many guardians been able to protect them from Count Olaf, who has tried and failed numerous times to steal the Baudelaire's large fortune, which Violet, the oldest Baudelaire, will inherit when she comes of age. In conclusion, I hope you will soon come to your senses and put down this miserable book and never pick it up again because the unfortunate story about the Baudelaires continues in the very next paragraph.  
  
"We're here," Mr. Poe announced cheerfully, leaning closer to the bus window to get a closer look outside. Mr. Poe is a banker put in charge of finding suitable guardians for the three Baudelaire orphans and keeping the Baudelaire fortune safe until Violet comes of age. Unfortunately, I'm sorry to say that Mr. Poe has done neither. He was a very nice man but not exactly reliable. The only reliable thing about him is that he never fails to cough a lot. And I'm sure that when you have a merciless criminal chasing you and your siblings, you'd much prefer someone who is reliably stable than someone who is nice and cheerfully announces "we're here," especially since "here" could mean anywhere.  
  
Violet turned to the window. She saw various buildings outside, gray and crumbly, as if they could fall apart any moment. It didn't look any better than the previous places she and her siblings had stayed at, some of which includes a miserable mill and an austere academy.  
  
However, Violet was too polite to say anything. "What a nice town," she commented timidly.  
  
"Yes, it looks very…stable," added Klaus hastily. Klaus was the middle Baudelaire child and like Violet, he was too polite to say anything about the dreary town surrounding them. However, inside, Klaus was reminded of the tiny shack he had his siblings had lived in once at the previous academy. The shack had been in a deep state of depression and was crawling of vicious crabs and now, looking at the gray and crumbly buildings outside, he was deeply reminded of that miserable little shack, even though there were no crabs in sight.  
  
"Nik!" Sunny, the youngest Baudelaire, said. Sunny was only a baby and therefore did not speak much English yet, although she did speak other words quite a bit.  
  
"I've never heard of that word before. What does "nik" mean?" Mr. Poe asked curiously.  
  
"I think Sunny means that she thinks this is a very good-looking town," Violet answered quickly, even though I'm pretty sure that when Sunny said "nik" she meant "I can't believe we're going to live in a place as ugly as this!"  
  
The bus suddenly screeched to a stop and all four of them were lurched forward, which in this case means "three of them fell off their seats while Sunny was shoved over the corner of her seat and banged her head on the window."  
  
Mr. Poe was the first to get up. He brushed the dust off his banker's suit and smiled. "Well, we're here," he announced cheerfully once more. Suddenly he submerged into a coughing fit and had to hurriedly take out his white handkerchief. After several minutes, he finally stopped and cleared his throat. As Violet and Klaus emerged from the ground of the bus, Mr. Poe started toward the exit.  
  
"I'm going to go check in with your new guardians. I'll be back in a few minutes. Meet me near the bus stop," He said with a slight wave. The Baudelaires watched until he was gone, and then turned to each other.  
  
"Poor Sunny," Violet said, checking her sister's head to see if there were visible scrapes.  
  
"Peby!" Sunny shrieked, which basically translates to "Bumping your head on a window is not very fun, especially when you're only a baby!"  
  
Klaus picked up Sunny and patted the sore spot sympathetically. "Maybe you could invite seatbelts for the bus, Violet," he suggested, turning to his older sister.  
  
Violet pushed her hair out of her eyes and smiled. Both her siblings knew that she had a special knack for inventing useful things and often did so after tying her hair with a ribbon to keep it out of her eyes. Of course, even though the word "knack" sounds like a type of tacky pants, it is really another word for "ability" or "skill," which in this case is very true because Violet had invented several useful things in the past that had helped them get through very sticky situations. "Maybe later," she promised. "How's your head, Sunny?"  
  
"Jubies!" Sunny replied, which meant along the lines of "I'm okay even though I hope we don't take anymore buses soon."  
  
Klaus nodded in agreement and held Sunny a bit tighter. "Maybe this'll be the place we can finally call home," he said hopefully.  
  
"Perhaps," Violet said uncertainly as they headed off the bus together. "For some reason, I have a bad feeling about this town."  
  
"Goye!" Sunny added, which meant "Me, too!"  
  
And as the Baudelaire orphans took their first steps into the unknown gray town they might call home, I wish I could have gone up to them and said, "Me, too!" because I, too, have a bad feeling about the town and unlike them, I know that my bad feeling was right.  
  
A/N: So here's chapter one! It's not very good, I know, but I'm not very used to imitating other author's styles. That's why I prefer writing my own stuff…anyway, if I get enough reviews, I might write the rest of the chapters…I have a lot of ideas! So please be kind and take a few minutes to R/R! 


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